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Timex Journey

Dave84
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Dave84 Watch Enthusiast

Dave84

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Hi Guys 

I hope you have all been keeping safe and well. 

Since I ended up with my grandfathers Timex Marlin I have been down a bit of a rabbit hole. What started out as a simple set lever change has spiralled in a very short space of time into a bit of an obsession. Admittedly, along the way I broke a pallet fork (or two) while bending dial feet, after carrying out a  "Timex Service", I also damaged an escape wheel ..and a hairspring ... But the M25 specifically has been a brilliant starting point for me gaining experience with working on watches. 

I went from using the service manual and photos at every stage, asking lots silly questions and relying on the patience and generosity of all you guys (particularly Transporter, JerseyMo, AndyHull & watchweazol) to a point now where I am buying job lots of parts & separating them into individual projects and sourcing more...

For me the connection hasn't stopped there as I learnt along the way that a number of my Wife's relatives worked for Timex in Scotland and I was able to have some great conversations with them about the history of Timex and some stories behind watches I have been working on. 

I just wanted to share my experiences a little and give thanks to everyone that has been patient with me and helped me along the way, hopefully in time I can start to pay it forward in some ways and no doubt Ill have more questions soon. 

Cheers 

Dave 

 

 

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watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

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Hi nice to see it up and running again, well done you, and also the history,  brilliant.  So Its come full circle, It was shame about the Dundee factory but that was the climate in the 70s . I am still of the opinion that they were innovative movements at time  and great to see there is still an interest in keeping them alive .:Bravo:

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Pip WRT Addict

Pip

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It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Timex or a Rolex, that feeling when a dead watch starts it’s heartbeat again is always great! Well done on your journey so far. You realise there’s no final destination right? You gotta just keep going!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

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Dave84 Watch Enthusiast

Dave84

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4 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi nice to see it up and running again, well done you, and also the history,  brilliant.  So Its come full circle, It was shame about the Dundee factory but that was the climate in the 70s . I am still of the opinion that they were innovative movements at time  and great to see there is still an interest in keeping them alive .:Bravo:

I know they aren't the prettiest movements and certainly not the most complicated but they are fun to work on. You can gauge how people felt about the shut down in Dundee by watching the documentary, id say the feeling hasn't changed much. Ill certainly do my best and carry on learning about the different Timex variations. 

19 minutes ago, Pip said:

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Timex or a Rolex, that feeling when a dead watch starts it’s heartbeat again is always great! Well done on your journey so far. You realise there’s no final destination right? You gotta just keep going!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 Ohhh yes, I have already accepted that there is no going back for me now I just have to keep learning and keep practising. 

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watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

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Hi Dave I watched the documentry  on the TV, pretty acrimonious,  What with Scargill  (the looser)  and the other Sh*t stirrer from Glasgow on the front rank. although to be fair the management in the Factory were not too bright either. I was working throughout Yorkshire during the miners strike now that was Grim,  again same story. And again with British Leyland.  The 3 day week and power cut off at 9.pm to save energy and fuel.    happy days not    cheers

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JayS Member

JayS

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11 hours ago, Dave84 said:

Dave, is this the plate side up you use for reassembling? I've been using the #31 movements (automatic, but essentially the same), but I've been doing them the opposite way, slipping the 1st and 3rd train gears under the barrel, then lowering the hairspring down over the top. I've not had much luck and with the long lengths of the pins sticking up, aligning them is a beast! - j

IMG_20200409_163505.jpg

 

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Dave84 Watch Enthusiast

Dave84

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Hi Jay 

I was originally struggling, trying to get the train sat on the back plate but Jersey Mo linked a few pics of his rebuild and it clicked for me. By building it up on the front plate, dial side down in the clamp, you can line the train up first, then the escape and the pallet fork rests on the  balance which is just sat in place, it also helps if you loosen the balance screw a bit, it adds stability to the pallet while trying to get the smaller back plate to line up with the pivots. 

I then just eyeball the back plate with the keyless works and mainspring barrel and just nudge it around with an old oiler or very gently with the tip of my finger until it sits in place. 

Then loosen off the clamp, slide the tweezers in (get a reasonable grip on the whole movement) and flip it over to screw the plates in.

Takes a little while to get the knack but after a bit of practice you get used to it. 

 

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Dave84 Watch Enthusiast

Dave84

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4 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi Dave I watched the documentry  on the TV, pretty acrimonious,  What with Scargill  (the looser)  and the other Sh*t stirrer from Glasgow on the front rank. although to be fair the management in the Factory were not too bright either. I was working throughout Yorkshire during the miners strike now that was Grim,  again same story. And again with British Leyland.  The 3 day week and power cut off at 9.pm to save energy and fuel.    happy days not    cheers

Lets just hope we never see anything like that again ... 

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